Chapter 608

Xiao Yin stared fixedly at the sachet embroidered with a qilin in his hand, and for a long while he couldn't recover.

Even though it went against his true feelings to the extreme, a fond smile still flickered in his eyes as he looked at Gu Jiu Ling and said, "Yes, my Princess Consort's qilin embroidery is superb."

"Really? Does the Prince truly like this qilin?" Gu Jiu Ling's eyes flashed with a bright gleam.

Having transmigrated to this era, aside from her superb medical skills, her needlework, poetry, and even the characters of this age were truly not up to par.

Now that she had spent a good while's effort to embroider this little animal, she hadn't expected Xiao Yin to praise it so highly, and instantly her vanity was greatly satisfied.

Gu Jiu Ling hurriedly took the sachet from Xiao Yin's hand, leaned in close to his waist, and raised her hand to hang it on his belt.

"Princess Consort, Princess Consort, what are you doing?"

Xiao Yin instantly felt something was wrong and quickly pressed down on Gu Jiu Ling's hand.

Gu Jiu Ling gave a soft chuckle: "Since the Prince likes it, I'll help him wear it so his colleagues can see."

"This is something I embroidered myself!"

"I... I... maybe it's not necessary? Taking such fine embroidery out, what if it gets damaged?"

"If those colleagues of mine, jealous of me, secretly take it, what am I to do? Such fine embroidery is better kept hidden."

"Don't worry, Prince, look!" Gu Jiu Ling turned and walked to the bedside, picked up a few more sachets, came before Xiao Yin, and pointed them out one by one.

"Look, this is the Azure Dragon."

"This is... this is the white crane."

"This is..."

"I know, Princess Consort, your embroidery is good; you must be tired, right?"

"Rest a while, don't embroider anymore; this sort of thing should be left to the embroidery maids. The manor spends so much silver to keep them, not to have them eat dry rations."

Xiao Yin quickly grabbed Gu Jiu Ling's hand and lifted his gaze to the sachets she held.

The white crane turned out looking like a chick, and the Azure Dragon, with its circular lines, if not for Gu Jiu Ling saying it was the Azure Dragon, he would have thought it was an earthworm crawling out of some farmland.

If he were to carry these things on his person, it would be strange not to have his colleagues laugh their heads off.

Although he is, after all, the illustrious Prince Rui of Southern Qi, and also cares about face, he hastily seized Gu Jiu Ling's hand, took all the sachets from her, and put on a careful demeanor, saying, "Please keep these embroideries safe for me, thank you, Princess Consort; your hands are skillful, your needlework top-notch."

"Looking across the world, those who can match the Princess Consort's embroidery skill are few and far between."

"Prince, you praise me so much, I'm really becoming a bit shy..."

Gu Jiu Ling knew her own worth; earlier Xiao Yin had praised her a few times, she had been delighted, but now hearing more praise felt increasingly off.

At the door stood several maidservants, each holding back laughter.

One truly dared to respond, another truly dared to praise. The affection between the Prince and Princess Consort truly grew better and better.

Jiu Yue laughed softly: "In a few days we'll have a little master to serve again."

Yun Duo also smiled and nodded, yet a hint of longing crossed her face: "I don't know how our little Heir Apparent and little Commandery Princess are doing these days; separated from the Princess Consort and Prince, I don't know when we can bring the two children back."

Jiu Yue also sighed; previously the Princess Consort had sent the two children to the islands in the East Sea Area so they could devote themselves to dealing with the turmoil in Shang Jing.

Now the Prince has become Regent King, yet he didn't expect this bloody turmoil to still be lurking; he doesn't know when it will end.

The two recalled this ever-changing situation and fell silent.

On the third day of the third month, Shang Jing of Southern Qi was already awash in peach-red and willow-green.

At this time every household brought offerings, went to the suburbs for an outing, and participated in the Spring Sacrifice.

The great clans went to their own manor houses in the suburbs, while the royal relatives went to the imperial manor.

However, during the Spring Sacrifice, the imperial clan also had to perform rites at ordinary manor houses in the suburbs.

Such manor houses are actually not many, after all, with so many people to accommodate, the entire civil and military officials mobilized; the small manor houses near the suburbs are insufficient, so one must go farther out.

The location is somewhat remote, but the manor is large and can hold many people.

The sons of poor families in the capital lack many carriages and steeds to travel far; mostly they stay near the suburbs, even by the Imperial River they tread green, fly paper kites, offer sacrifices to the spring god, then return to their own courtyards.

Gu Jiu Ling had also participated in previous Spring Sacrifices, but this year's Spring Sacrifice was especially grand for the Rui Wangfu.

Now Prince Rui is still Regent King; before the Spring Sacrifice even begins, various aristocratic ladies have sent invitations, wishing to accompany the Regent King's household on an outing.

Gu Jiu Ling had previously endured much cold mockery from those aristocratic ladies; now looking at the snowflake-like invitations in her hand, she curled her lip in derision.

It's not that she is aloof, nor that her status is now high; those people simply cannot attain her level.

Gu Jiu Ling merely finds it truly laughable and does not want to waste her energy on these useless social connections.

This time she truly wants to follow Xiao Yin to the suburbs for an outing and some fun.

"Jiu Yue, pack this in, yes, and also bring along the things in that basket."

"Did you bring the little cakes?"

Gu Jiu Ling had previously agreed with Xiao Yin that after following Bai Xiaosheng to complete the Spring Sacrifice activities, she would take her alone to the suburban manor to view the peach blossoms.

The couple have these days been wholly preoccupied with other matters.

Their private time together alone has actually been rather scarce.

Over a year has passed, days have been tumultuous, hearts in suspense; it's rare to have a moment of peace, and Gu Jiu Ling naturally won't let this brief warm moment slip by.

She has practically used every method she can think of for preparing food ingredients.

She made some small cakes nonexistent in this era, as well as other delicacies.

She packed them full into several boxes, even wrapping the food boxes with ice blocks so they wouldn't spoil on the long journey.

Xiao Yin had already gone ahead into the palace to meet Bai Xiaosheng; now Bai Xiaosheng oversees the Spring Sacrifice, and Xiao Yin assists as Regent King.

Not long after, the palace carriages stopped at the Rui Wangfu gate; these imperial relatives must set out together with the palace concubines.

Gu Jiu Ling, with Yun Duo and Jiu Yue, moved the food boxes onto the carriage; just as she sat in, she heard the sound of hooves.

Gu Jiu Ling lifted the carriage curtain and met Xiao Yin's peerlessly handsome face.

Xiao Yin, finding a moment, came over to take a look at his own Princess Consort.

Now seeing Gu Jiu Ling's carriage filled with big and small packages of food supplies, Xiao Yin laughed and said softly, "Wait until I finish handling the former court's affairs alongside the Crown Prince, then I'll come find you."

Gu Jiu Ling nodded; Xiao Yin was about to turn, not wanting Gu Jiu Ling to grab his sleeve, when she slipped a packet of snacks into his hand.

Xiao Yin pinched a piece and put it in his mouth, then nodded at Gu Jiu Ling and smiled, saying, "Your skill keeps improving; today there are many people and much chatter, so be careful."